“You are so magnetic.”
“I am like the old Tin Man.”
“Take, take my soul.”
Category: Gabbler Recommends
“[T]he relationship between who is a real person and who is a fictional person becomes more ontologically uncertain.”
The story of a woman who claimed to be the medium for a prolific ghost with talent. Was it really a ghost? Was it just her pen name? Or was it something more?:
“Curran’s output prompts us to ask some fundamental questions about history, genre, intention, affect, authorship, and why we choose to read what we read. Furthermore, her writings are a fascinating curio of an era in American literary history when academics and quacks, the rational and the occult, scholarship and magic all mingled together in popular discourse…
Between the possibilities of Patience Worth’s reality and Pearl Curran’s duplicity there exists a third option: that Pearl Curran transcribed these works believing Patience Worth to be real, a creation of her own mind communicating these words back to her. An internal muse if you will, whose existence serves to reevaluate the simple individual models of authorship we conventionally hold to. As such, her corpus provides an occasion for thinking about where inspiration comes from, how authors generate their writings, and the ways in which something as seemingly well understood as writing still contains a kernel of mystery at its core.
…[T]here is much literary merit in Curran’s work – so why then this neglect? The bizarre origin of the writings shouldn’t be an impediment to a reasoned study of their structural qualities. After all, William Butler Yeats attributed several of his lyrics to a spirit named Leo Africanus whom he encountered through the use of a Ouija board while a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Without suggesting that the writings of Curran and Yeats are of similar artistic value, it would seem that dismissing them entirely on the grounds that there is a connection to the occult is unfair if a similar standard isn’t applied to Yeats…
A heteronym is a particularly complicated pen-name; in addition to a false name there is an entirely false identity, a fictional writer where literariness is extratextual to the poem or book itself. These concepts, of the heteronym and the muse, inspiration and authorship raise interesting questions about the epistemology and ontology of literature. Where does literature ultimately come from? What is legitimate as an object of reading and study? Can a literary hoax still be read as literature?”
Read the rest at: The Public Domain Review.
10 things you might not know about THE AUTOMATION – in GIFs!
10 things you might not know about THE AUTOMATION – a dark fantasy novel about ancient Automata invading our modern world:
- There are Automata (uppercase-A, yes, thank you) in this novel. They’re divine as fuck and not made by men – and they’re often mistaken for human. Here’s a lowercase-a automaton to illustrate what they are NOT like:
- Those Automata can only function with a human soul. Thus, they need a human “Master” to wind them up. This makes for some awkward situations for some of the characters.
- The Greco-Roman gods Vulcan and Venus have small roles in the novel. Though they play a bigger part later on in the series and will likely eff more shit up for the poor human characters.
- One of the characters is a cat. Don’t ignore the cat. Though the cat can ignore YOU.
- One character’s sexuality is changed in the novel. Because the gods Vulcan and Venus need him to like girls instead of boys. And it’s not fair.
- The Narrator (whose abbreviated name is B.L.A.) and the Editor (Gabbler, whose contributions show up as footnotes) are also characters in the story. It’s actually B.L.A.’s memoir, you could say (though Gabbler is of the mind it’s – ahem – obviously embellished). [But just to be clear: the novel is written by one person, not two, despite what they tell you. PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN].
- It is for readers who like sf novels set in “this” world like: Vicious, The Magicians, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, American Gods, The Just City.
- It claims to be Epic Poetry, but it’s written in prose. Thus “Prose Epic” is apparently applicable.
- The novel breaks the fourth wall. It knows it’s a novel. Meta to the max.
- You can read the first chapter online for free. Be our guest. Enjoy the show.
THE AUTOMATION is available in paperback and for DRM-free Kindle download. In all countries. Maybe. Probably. WE DON’T KNOW, OK?
[“BLA and GB Gabbler” (really just a pen name – singular) are the Editor and Narrator behind THE AUTOMATION, vol. 1 of the Circo del Herrero series. They are on facebook, twitter, tumblr, goodreads, and Vulcan’s shit list.]
Trust the Midas Touch:
Through the fire, through the flames:
You won’t even say your name – only “I am that I am.”